Kristen Green: Telling True Stories Come hear Kristen Green talk about her award-winning book Something Must Be Done About Prince Edward County. Kristen will talk about her journey, first as a journalist, and then what led Kristen to return to her hometown of Farmville, VA in order to write this ground-breaking book, a recent Library of Virginia Nonfiction Award Winner. Kristen's talk will be followed by a Q & A so bring your questions -- about journalism, about the school closures in Prince Edward County, about writing the book, about what it's like to tell true stories.
Bird Cox: Fate and Chaos: Navigating Character Creation You've lived a life. It's been complex, brilliant, messy, banal, lonely, courageous, huge. How does one determine how to translate those experiences into fiction? First, you'll need a complex, brilliant, messy character or two. This workshop will explore the process of transforming and embroidering your experiences into compelling fictional characters.
Lamar Giles: STORY STARTERS – For aspiring fiction writers. Ideas are everywhere; we must train ourselves to recognize them. In a series of short, fun exercises, student writers will use photos, props, and personal experiences as the basis for their own epic tales.
Clay McLeod Chapman: Creating Something Out of Nothing: Short Story Workshop Young writers need look no further than their own newspaper when searching for new stories to tell. By sifting through the local newspaper as a source of inspiration, we will bring our own voice to characters ripped straight from the headlines. Like the saying goes -- "Truth is always stranger than fiction!"
Lana Krumwiede: Secret Life of Places This writing workshop uses brainstorming and idea-developing exercises to reveal a hidden story about a familiar place. Starting with a setting that you know well, we’ll dig deep below the surface, beyond the ordinary or expected, to unearth a secret about that place that you never would have guessed. Writers of any age are welcome.
First Pages Panel: Submit Your Work to First Pages Panel! Would an editor read past the first page of your novel, memoir, essay, or short story? Find out at the First Pages Critique on December 10 at 1:40 during Writers’ Fest! Editors/authors will respond to your anonymous work in a room filled with avid listeners. To participate, you must: 1–Send an electronic copy (an attached Word document or PDF –NO GOOGLE SHARES) of your FIRST PAGE ONLY to Patty Smith at [email protected]. 2–Put “First Pages Critique” and your name in the subject header. (Include name on subject header of email ONLY. Authors remain anonymous.) 3–Indicate the genre (fiction or CNF; sci-fi, historical fiction, etc.) in the upper right-hand corner of the page; center your title. Do not include the author’s name. NOTE: we do not accept poetry for this event. 4–Your submission should be DOUBLE-SPACED. 5–Your submission must be received by Thursday, December 8th, 2016. Other Submission Guidelines:
Your work may or may not be selected. We pre-select based on time and variety. You will not know in advance if they will read your work.
Do NOT send more than the first page.
Do NOT enclose any correspondence or paperwork regarding other matters. We won’t read these until close to conference day.
Kaylie Jones, Patty Smith, J. Patrick Redmond: So You Want to be a Novelist? Have you ever wondered what it's like to have your novel published? Listen in on a conversation with two debut novelists and their editor to learn more about this process and to hear selections from their novels.
Jon Pineda: Building Momentum: Line Breaks in Poetry In this poetry workshop, we will discuss strategies for writing poems. In particular, we will study the use of enjambment as a device for building momentum for the reader. We will also look at the way enjambment embraces “half-meanings” that accumulate as the poem unfolds.